Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron has sparked criticism after she compared media intrusion into her life to rape.

The South African-born star, who was in Britain to promote her new film A Million Ways To Die In The West, made the comments when she was asked by a Sky News interviewer if she ever entered her name in a search engine.

She said: “I don’t do that, so that’s my saving grace. When you start living in that world, and doing that, you start, I guess, feeling raped.”

Pressed on whether she felt so strongly about the issue, she said: “Well, you know when it comes to your son and your private life. Maybe that’s just me.

“Some people might relish all that stuff but there are certain things in my life that I think of as very sacred and I am very protective over them.”

Watching the video interview (above) it appears the actress, who adopted her son Jackson two years ago, seemed to hesistate and think for a moment after making the “rape” comment.

While some view her comments as valid and merely a strong metaphor, there was criticism — the most outspoken on social media, with more cautious wording from some official bodies.

One rape victim told the UK’s Sky News the blunder was “absolutely abhorrent”.

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Rights activist ... Charlize Theron and partner Sean Penn at the premiere of
A Million Ways To Die In The West in Los Angeles.Source:AFP

Not funny ... Charlize Theron in a lighter moment on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier in May.Source:Getty Images

Katie Russell, a spokeswoman for sexual violence charity Rape Crisis in England and Wales, said: “What is particularly surprising is that this case does not come out of ignorance as Charlize Theron has been involved in campaigns around rape and sexual violence so she should understand that when she speaks there will be a huge number of victims of sexual violence among her audience.”

Theron, 38, who won the leading actress Oscar in 2003 for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, runs an anti-HIV project in Africa and has campaigned against sexual violence.

In 1999 she made an advert for the Real Men Don’t Rape campaign in South Africa, telling viewers that every 26 seconds a woman is raped in the country.

Theron’s use of wording was wrong, one expert told the New York Daily News.

Linda Fairstein, the former chief of the Manhattan district attorney’s sex crimes unit, said Theron should have used the word “violated,” adding: “Rape has a legal definition, a physical assault on the body and a very traumatic one.”

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